Pathomechanics of Post-traumatic Knee Injuries

Abstract

High and rapid impact activities are widely known to subject the knee joint to abnormal kinetics and kinematics that will increase injury risk. We hypothesize that impact loads applied to the knee joint to simulate an injurious landing task are able to induce anterior cruciate ligament injury; at the same time, these loads can also inflict significant cartilage damage which may accelerate the risk of developing early-onset osteoarthritis. Five cadaveric knees were mounted to a material testing system at 70-deg flexion. Rotational and translational joint motion during compression was registered using motion-capture system. Compression was successively repeated with higher actuator displacemen..